


Demi-Guardians

by KianaAmethystJames



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-05
Updated: 2015-07-05
Packaged: 2018-04-07 18:48:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4274091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KianaAmethystJames/pseuds/KianaAmethystJames
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Seeing as Voldemort seems to have recruited more Death Eaters who have stirred trouble within Hogwarts, we have taken precautions and have decided to bring in more protection from a group of very special people." Professor Dumbledore announced to all the students in the Great Hall. "They're a group of teenagers and children called Demi-god's, and they have come to protect you all."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first story on here so please go easy on me! Flames accepted.  
> Also available on Fanfiction.net
> 
> Disclaimer: I. Own. Nothing! Nothing! *cries*

**_Chapter 1_ **

* * *

 

Through the gates, flanked with statues of winged boars, and up the sweeping drive the carriages trundled, swaying dangerously in what was fast becoming a gale. Leaning against the window, Harry could see Hogwarts coming nearer, its many lighted windows blurred and shimmering behind the thick curtain of rain. Lightning flashed across the sky as their carriage came to a halt before the great oak front doors, which stood at the top of a flight of stone steps. People who had occupied the carriages in front were already hurrying up the stone steps into the castle. Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Neville jumped down from their carriage and dashed up the steps too, looking up only when they were safely inside the cavernous, torch-lit entrance hall, with its magnificent marble staircase.

　　"Blimey," said Ron, shaking his head and sending water everywhere, "if that keeps up the lake's going to overflow. I'm soak - ARRGH!"

　　A large, red, water-filled balloon had dropped from out of the ceiling onto Ron's head and exploded. Drenched and sputtering, Ron staggered sideways into Harry, just as a second water bomb dropped - narrowly missing Hermione, it burst at Harry's feet, sending a wave of cold water over his sneakers into his socks. People all around them shrieked and started pushing one another in their efforts to get out of the line of fire. Harry looked up and saw, floating twenty feet above them, Reeves the Poltergeist, a little man in a bell-covered hat and orange bow tie, his wide, malicious face contorted with concentration as he took aim again.

　　"PEEVES!" yelled an angry voice. "Peeves, come down here at ONCE!"

　　Professor McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress and head of Gryffindor House, had come dashing out of the Great Hall; she skidded on the wet floor and grabbed Hermione around the neck to stop herself from falling.

　　"Ouch - sorry, Miss Granger -"

　　"That's all right, Professor!" Hermione gasped, massaging her throat.

　　"Peeves, get down here NOW!" barked Professor McGonagall, straightening her pointed hat

　　and glaring upward through her square-rimmed spectacles.

　　"Not doing nothing!" cackled Peeves, lobbing a water bomb at several fifth-year girls, who screamed and dived into the Great Hall. "Already wet, aren't they? Little squirts!

　　Wheeeeeeeeee!" And he aimed another bomb at a group of second years who had just arrived.

　　"I shall call the headmaster!" shouted Professor McGonagall. "I'm warning you, Peeves -"

　　Peeves stuck out his tongue, threw the last of his water bombs into the air, and zoomed off up the marble staircase, cackling insanely.

　　"Well, move along, then!" said Professor McGonagall sharply to the bedraggled crowd.

　　"Into the Great Hall, come on!"

　　Harry, Ron, and Hermione slipped and slid across the entrance hall and through the double doors on the right, Ron muttering furiously under his breath as he pushed his sopping hair off his face.

　　The Great Hall looked its usual splendid self, decorated for the start-of-term feast.

　　Golden plates and goblets gleamed by the light of hundreds and hundreds of candles, floating over the tables in mid-air. The four long House tables were packed with chattering students; at the top of the Hall, the staff sat along one side of a fifth table, facing their pupils. It was much warmer in here. Harry, Ron, and Hermione walked past the Slytherins, the Ravenclaws, and the Hufflepuffs, and sat down with the rest of the Gryffindors at the far side of the Hall, next to Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost. Pearly white and semi transparent, Nick was dressed tonight in his usual doublet, but with a particularly large ruff, which served the dual purpose of looking extra-festive, and insuring that his head didn't wobble too much on his partially severed neck.

　　"Good evening," he said, beaming at them.

　　"Says who?" said Harry, taking off his sneakers and emptying them of water. "Hope they hurry up with the Sorting. I'm starving."

　　The Sorting of the new students into Houses took place at the start of every school year, but by an unlucky combination of circumstances, Harry hadn't been present at one since his own. He was quite looking forward to it. Just then, a highly excited, breathless voice called down the table.

　　"Hiya, Harry!"

　　It was Colin Creevey, a third year to whom Harry was something of a hero.

　　"Hi, Colin," said Harry warily.

　　"Harry, guess what? Guess what, Harry? My brother's starting! My brother Dennis!"

　　"Er - good," said Harry.

　　"He's really excited!" said Colin, practically bouncing up and down in his seat. "I just hope he's in Gryffindor! Keep your fingers crossed, eh, Harry?"

　　"Er - yeah, all right," said Harry. He turned back to Hermione, Ron, and Nearly Headless Nick. "Brothers and sisters usually go in the same Houses, don't they?" he said. He was judging by the Weasleys, all seven of whom had been put into Gryffindor.

　　"Oh no, not necessarily," said Hermione. "Parvati Patil's twin's in Ravenclaw, and they're identical. You'd think they'd be together, wouldn't you?"

　　Harry looked up at the staff table. There seemed to be rather more empty seats there than usual. Hagrid, of course, was still fighting his way across the lake with the first years; Professor McGonagall was presumably supervising the drying of the entrance hall floor, but there was another empty chair too, and Harry couldn't think who else was missing.

　　"Where's the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" said Hermione, who was also looking up at the teachers.

　　They had never yet had a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who had lasted more than three terms. Harry's favourite by far had been Professor Lupin, who had resigned last year. He looked up and down the staff table. There was definitely no new face there.

　　"Maybe they couldn't get anyone!" said Hermione, looking anxious.

　　Harry scanned the table more carefully. Tiny little Professor Flitwick, the Charms teacher, was sitting on a large pile of cushions beside Professor Sprout, the Herbology teacher, whose hat was askew over her flyaway gray hair. She was talking to Professor Sinistra of the Astronomy department. On Professor Sinistra's other side was the sallow-faced, hook-nosed, greasy-haired Potions master, Snape - Harry's least favourite person at Hogwarts. Harry's loathing of Snape was matched only by Snape's hatred of him, a hatred which had, if possible, intensified last year, when Harry had helped Sirius escape right under Snape's over-large nose - Snape and Sirius had been enemies since their own school days.

　　On Snape's other side was an empty seat, which Harry guessed was Professor McGonagall's.

　　Next to it, and in the very centre of the table, sat Professor Dumbledore, the headmaster, his sweeping silver hair and beard shining in the candlelight, his magnificent deep green robes embroidered with many stars and moons. The tips of Dumbledore's long, thin fingers were together and he was resting his chin upon them, staring up at the ceiling through his half-moon spectacles as though lost in thought.

　　Harry glanced up at the ceiling too. It was enchanted to look like the sky outside, and he had never seen it look this stormy. Black and purple clouds were swirling across it, and as another thunder clap sounded outside, a fork of lightning flashed across it.

　　"Oh hurry up," Ron moaned, beside Harry, "I could eat a hippogriff."

　　The words were no sooner out of his mouth than the doors of the Great Hall opened and silence fell. Professor McGonagall was leading a long line of first years up to the top of the Hall. If Harry, Ron, and Hermione were wet, it was nothing to how these first years looked. They appeared to have swum across the lake rather than sailed. All of them were shivering with a combination of cold and nerves as they filed along the staff table and came to a halt in a line facing the rest of the school - all of them except the smallest of the lot, a boy with mousy hair, who was wrapped in what Harry recognised as Hagrid's moleskin overcoat. The coat was so big for him that it hooked as though he were draped in a furry black circus tent. His small face protruded from over the collar, looking almost painfully excited. When he had lined up with his terrified-looking peers, he caught Colin Creevey's eye, gave a double thumbs-up, and mouthed, I fell in the lake!

　　He looked positively delighted about it.

　　Professor McGonagall now placed a three-legged stool on the ground before the first years and, on top of it, an extremely old, dirty patched wizard's hat. The first years stared at it. So did everyone else. For a moment, there was silence. Then a long tear near the brim opened wide like a mouth, and the hat broke into song:

　　A thousand years or more ago,  
When I was newly sewn,  
There lived four wizards of renown,  
Whose names are still well known:

　　Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,  
Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,  
Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,  
Shrewd Slytherin, from fin.

　　They shared a wish, a hope, a dream, They hatched a daring plan  
To educate young sorcerers  
Thus Hogwarts School began.

　　Now each of these four founders Formed their own house, for each  
Did value different virtues  
In the ones they had to teach.

　　By Gryffindor, the bravest were  
Prized far beyond the rest;  
For Ravenclaw, the cleverest  
Would always be the best;  
For Hufflepuff, hard workers were  
Most worthy of admission;  
And power-hungry Slytherin  
Loved those of great ambition.

　　While still alive they did divide  
Their favourites from the throng,  
Yet how to pick the worthy ones  
When they were dead and gone?

　　'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,  
He whipped me off his head  
The founders put some brains in me  
So I could choose instead!

　　Now slip me snug about your ears,  
I've never yet been wrong,  
I'll have a look inside your mind  
And tell where you belong!

The Great Hall rang with applause as the Sorting Hat finished.

　　"That's not the song it sang when it Sorted us," said Harry, clapping along with everyone else.

　　"Sings a different one every year," said Ron. "It's got to be a pretty boring life, hasn't it, being a hat? I suppose it spends all year making up the next one."

　　Professor McGonagall was now unrolling a large scroll of parchment.

　　"When I call out your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool," she told the first years. "When the hat announces your House, you will go and sit at the appropriate table.

　　"Ackerley, Stewart!"

　　A boy walked forward, visibly trembling from head to foot, picked up the Sorting Hat, put it on, and sat down on the stool.

　　"RAVENCLAW!" shouted the hat.

　　Stewart Ackerley took off the hat and hurried into a seat at the Ravenclaw table, where everyone was applauding him. Harry caught a glimpse of Cho, the Ravenclaw Seeker, cheering Stewart Ackerley as he sat down. For a fleeting second, Harry had a strange desire to join the Ravenclaw table too.

　　"Baddock, Malcolm!"

　　"SLYTHERIN!"

　　The table on the other side of the hall erupted with cheers; Harry could see Malfoy clapping as Baddock joined the Slytherins. Harry wondered whether Baddock knew that Slytherin House had turned out more Dark witches and wizards than any other. Fred and George hissed Malcolm Baddock as he sat down.

　　"Branstone, Eleanor!"

　　"HUFFLEPUFF!"

　　"Cauldwell, Owen!"

　　"HUFFLEPUFF!"

　　"Creevey, Dennis!"

　　Tiny Dennis Creevey staggered forward, tripping over Hagrid's moleskin, just as Hagrid himself sidled into the Hall through a door behind the teachers' table. About twice as tall as a normal man, and at least three times as broad, Hagrid, with his long, wild, tangled black hair and beard, looked slightly alarming - a misleading impression, for Harry, Ron, and Hermione knew Hagrid to possess a very kind nature. He winked at them as he sat down at the end of the staff table and watched Dennis Creevey putting on the Sorting Hat. The rip at the brim opened wide-- - "GRYFFINDOR!" the hat shouted.

　　Hagrid clapped along with the Gryffindors as Dennis Creevey, beaming widely, took off the hat, placed it back on the stool, and hurried over to join his brother.

　　"Colin, I fell in!" he said shrilly, throwing himself into an empty seat. "It was brilliant! And something in the water grabbed me and pushed me back in the boat!"

　　"Cool!" said Colin, just as excitedly. "It was probably the giant squid, Dennis!"

　　"Wow!" said Dennis, as though nobody in their wildest dreams could hope for more than being thrown into a storm-tossed, fathoms-deep lake, and pushed out of it again by a giant sea monster.

"Dennis! Dennis! See that boy down there? The one with the black hair and glasses? See him? Know who he is, Dennis?"

　　Harry looked away, staring very hard at the Sorting Hat, now Sorting Emma Dobbs.

　　The Sorting continued; boys and girls with varying degrees of fright on their faces moving one by one to the three-legged stool, the line dwindling slowly as Professor McGonagall passed the L's.

　　"Oh hurry up," Ron moaned, massaging his stomach.

　　"Now, Ron, the Sorting's much more important than food," said Nearly Headless Nick as "Madley, Laura!" became a Hufflepuff.

　　"Course it is, if you're dead," snapped Ron.

　　"I do hope this year's batch of Gryffindors are up to scratch," said Nearly Headless Nick, applauding as "McDonald, Natalie!" joined the Gryffindor table. "We don't want to

　　break our winning streak, do we?"

　　Gryffindor had won the Inter-House Championship for the last three years in a row.

　　"Pritchard, Graham!"

　　"SLYTHERIN!"

　　"Quirke, Orla!"

　　"RAVENCLAW!"

　　And finally, with "Whitby, Kevin!" ("HUFFLEPUFF!"), the Sorting ended.

　　Professor McGonagall picked up the hat and the stool and carried them away.

　　"About time," said Ron, seizing his knife and fork and looking expectantly at his golden plate.

　　Professor Dumbledore had gotten to his feet. He was smiling around at the students, his arms opened wide in welcome.

　　"I have only two words to say to you," he told them, his deep voice echoing around the Hall. "Tuck in."

　　"Hear, hear!" said Harry and Ron loudly as the empty dishes filled magically before their eyes.

　　Nearly Headless Nick watched mournfully as Harry, Ron, and Hermione loaded their own plates.

　　"Aaah, 'at's be'er," said Ron, with his mouth full of mashed potato.

　　"You're lucky there's a feast at all tonight, you know," said Nearly Headless Nick.

　　"There was trouble in the kitchens earlier."

　　"Why? Wha' 'appened?" said Harry, through a sizable chunk of steak.

　　"Peeves, of course," said Nearly Headless Nick, shaking his head, which wobbled dangerously. He pulled his ruff a little higher up on his neck. "The usual argument, you know. He wanted to attend the feast - well, it's quite out of the question, you know what he's like, utterly uncivilised, can't see a plate of food without throwing it. We held a ghost's council - the Fat Friar was all for giving him the chance - but most wisely, in my opinion, the Bloody Baron put his foot down."

　　The Bloody Baron was the Slytherin ghost, a gaunt and silent specter covered in silver bloodstains. He was the only person at Hogwarts who could really control Peeves.

　　"Yeah, we thought Peeves seemed hacked off about something," said Ron darkly. "So what did he do in the kitchens?"

　　"Oh the usual," said Nearly Headless Nick, shrugging. "Wreaked havoc and mayhem. Pots and pans everywhere. Place swimming in soup. Terrified the house-elves out of their wits--"

　　Clang.

　　Hermione had knocked over her golden goblet. Pumpkin juice spread steadily over the tablecloth, staining several feet of white linen orange, but Hermione paid no attention.

　　"There are house-elves here?" she said, staring, horror-struck, at Nearly Headless Nick.

　　"Here at Hogwarts?"

　　"Certainly," said Nearly Headless Nick, looking surprised at her reaction. "The largest number in any dwelling in Britain, I believe. Over a hundred."

　　"I've never seen one!" said Hermione.

　　"Well, they hardly ever leave the kitchen by day, do they?" said Nearly Headless Nick.

　　"They come out at night to do a bit of cleaning.. . see to the fires and so on.. . . I mean, you're not supposed to see them, are you? That's the mark of a good house-elf, isn't it, that you don't know it's there?"

　　Hermione stared at him.

　　"But they get paid?" she said. "They get holidays, don't they? And - and sick leave, and pensions, and everything?"

　　Nearly Headless Nick chortled so much that his ruff slipped and his head flopped off, dangling on the inch or so of ghostly skin and muscle that still attached it to his neck.

　　"Sick leave and pensions?" he said, pushing his head back onto his shoulders and securing it once more with his ruff. "House-elves don't want sick leave and pensions!"

　　Hermione looked down at her hardly touched plate of food, then put her knife and fork down upon it and pushed it away from her.

　　"Oh c'mon, 'Er-my-knee," said Ron, accidentally spraying Harry with bits of Yorkshire pudding. "Oops -- sorry, 'Arry --" He swallowed. "You won't get them sick leave by starving yourself!"

　　"Slave labour," said Hermione, breathing hard through her nose. "That's what made this dinner. Slave labour."

　　And she refused to eat another bite.

　　The rain was still drumming heavily against the high, dark glass. Another clap of thunder shook the windows, and the stormy ceiling flashed, illuminating the golden plates as the remains of the first course vanished and were replaced, instantly, with puddings.

　　"Treacle tart, Hermione!" said Ron, deliberately wafting its smell toward her. "Spotted dick, look! Chocolate gateau!"

　　But Hermione gave him a look so reminiscent of Professor McGonagall that he gave up.

　　When the puddings too had been demolished, and the last crumbs had faded off the plates, leaving them sparkling clean, Albus Dumbledore got to his feet again. The buzz of chatter filling the Hall ceased almost at once, so that only the howling wind and pounding rain could be heard.

　　"So!" said Dumbledore, smiling around at them all. "Now that we are all fed and watered," ("Hmph!" said Hermione) "I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices.

　　"Mr. Filch, the caretaker, has asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle has this year been extended to include Screaming Yo-yo's, Fanged Frisbee's, and Ever-Bashing Boomerang's. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty-seven items, I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it."

　　The corners of Dumbledore's mouth twitched. He continued, "As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year.

　　"It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year."

　　"What?" Harry gasped. He looked around at Fred and George, his fellow members of the Quidditch team. They were mouthing soundlessly at Dumbledore, apparently too appalled to speak. Dumbledore went on, "This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year, taking up much of the teachers' time and energy - but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts -"

　　But at that moment, there was a deafening rumble of thunder and the doors of the Great Hall banged open.

　　A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black travelling cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swivelled toward the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated by a fork of lightning that flashed across the ceiling. He lowered his hood, shook out a long mane of grizzled, dark gray hair, then began to walk up toward the teachers' table.

A dull clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step. He reached the end of the top table, turned right, and limped heavily toward Dumbledore. Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling. Hermione gasped.

　　The lightning had thrown the man's face into sharp relief, and it was a face unlike any Harry had ever seen. It looked as though it had been carved out of weathered wood by someone who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces are supposed to look like, and was none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of the nose was missing. But it was the man's eyes that made him frightening.

　　One of them was small, dark, and beady. The other was large, round as a coin, and a vivid, electric blue. The blue eye was moving ceaselessly, without blinking, and was rolling up, down, and from side to side, quite independently of the normal eye - and then it rolled right over, pointing into the back of the man's head, so that all they could see was whiteness.

　　The stranger reached Dumbledore. He stretched out a hand that was as badly scarred as his face, and Dumbledore shook it, muttering words Harry couldn't hear. He seemed to be making some inquiry of the stranger, who shook his head unsmilingly and replied in an undertone. Dumbledore nodded and gestured the man to the empty seat on his right-hand side.

　　The stranger sat down, shook his mane of dark gray hair out of his face, pulled a plate of sausages toward him, raised it to what was left of his nose, and sniffed it. He then took a small knife out of his pocket, speared a sausage on the end of it, and began to eat. His normal eye was fixed upon the sausages, but the blue eye was still darting restlessly around in its socket, taking in the Hall and the students.

　　"May I introduce our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher?" said Dumbledore brightly into the silence. "Professor Moody."

　　It was usual for new staff members to be greeted with applause, but none of the staff or students chapped except Dumbledore and Hagrid, who both put their hands together and applauded, but the sound echoed dismally into the silence, and they stopped fairly quickly. Everyone else seemed too transfixed by Moody's bizarre appearance to do more than stare at him.

　　"Moody?" Harry muttered to Ron. "Mad-Eye Moody? The one your dad went to help this morning?"

　　"Must be," said Ron in a low, awed voice.

　　"What happened to him?" Hermione whispered. "What happened to his face?"

　　"Dunno," Ron whispered back, watching Moody in fascination.  
Moody seemed totally indifferent to his less-than-warm welcome. Ignoring the jug of pumpkin juice in front of him, he reached again into his travelling cloak, pulled out a hip flask, and took a long draught from it. As he lifted his arm to drink, his cloak was pulled a few inches from the ground, and Harry saw, below the table, several inches of carved wooden leg, ending in a clawed foot.

　　Dumbledore cleared his throat.

　　"As I was saying," he said, smiling at the sea of students before him, all of whom were still gazing transfixed at Mad-Eye Moody, "we are to have the honour of hosting a very exciting event over the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my very great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

　　"You're JOKING!" said Fred Weasley loudly.

　　The tension that had filled the Hall ever since Moody's arrival suddenly broke. Nearly everyone laughed, and Dumbledore chuckled appreciatively.

　　"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley," he said, "though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar.

　　Professor McGonagall cleared her throat loudly.

　　"Er - but maybe this is not the time.. . no. . ." said Dumbledore, "where was I? Ah yes, the Triwizard Tournament. . . well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who do know will forgive me for giving a short explanation, and allow their attention to wander freely.

　　"The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three largest European schools of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons, and Durmstrang. A champion was selected to represent each school, and the three champions competed in three magical tasks. The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities -until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued."

　　"Death toll?" Hermione whispered, looking alarmed. But her anxiety did not seem to be shared by the majority of students in the Hall; many of them were whispering excitedly to one another, and Harry himself was far more interested in hearing about the tournament than in worrying about deaths that had happened hundreds of years ago.

　　"There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament,"

　　Dumbledore continued, "none of which has been very successful. However, our own departments of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt. We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger.

"The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their short-listed contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

　　"I'm going for it!" Fred Weasley hissed down the table, his face lit with enthusiasm at the prospect of such glory and riches. He was not the only person who seemed to be visualising himself as the Hogwarts champion. At every House table, Harry could see people either gazing raptly at Dumbledore, or else whispering fervently to their neighbours. But then Dumbledore spoke again, and the Hall quieted once more.

　　"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard Cup to Hogwarts," he said,

　　"the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age - that is to say, seventeen years or older - will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This" -- Dumbledore raised his voice slightly, for several people had made noises of outrage at these words, and the Weasley twins were suddenly looking furious - "is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will still be difficult and dangerous, whatever precautions we take, and it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hog-warts champion." His light blue eyes twinkled as they flickered over Fred's and George's mutinous faces. "I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen.

　　"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of this year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole-hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late, and I know how important it is to you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. As for the next announcement,

"Seeing as Voldemort seems to have recruited more Death Eaters who have stirred trouble within Hogwarts, we have taken precautions and have decided to bring in more protection from a group of very special people." Professor Dumbledore announced to all the students in the Great Hall. "They're a group of teenagers and children called Demi-god's, and they have come to protect you all."

Hermione gaped and muttered, "Children? Teenagers? What has the world come to?"

Whispers broke out across the hall, people talking about their new 'guardians'.

"As to what Demi-god's are, I shall explain. But first to begin - Greek myths are real in the world. As in the gods and goddesses of Greek Mythology. They usually go around and have children with Muggles, thus producing Demi-god's. Some Demi-god's cause no trouble at all such as the children of Aphrodite and Demeter, but others such as Ares and Athena have made trouble in the world. Monsters have hunted them down to try and kill them and several have succeeded," Whispers broke out across the halls. Dumbledore let out a sigh before holding up his hands, silencing the students. "-, and not many have survived up to tha age of seventeen, but they have been taken to a camp where they learn how to defend themselves, turning them into an official godly army that can either be a very dangerous foe or a rather helpful friend. They have recently come out of two wars, one with the Titan of Time, Kronos and another with Mother Earth, Gaia. They will be here in the time of the Triwizard Tournament."  
Hermione by this time was frozen in shock. Harry couldn't believe it. These people - no - children were made to fight wars, just because they had that one parent. This horrified even the teachers, as their mouths were agape - with the exception of Moody though.

"Well then. Chop, chop! Of to bed now!" Dumbledore yelled and all students stood up and went off to bed.

"I-I can't believe children were made to fight in wars when the god's could've done it!" Hermione shrieked in horror

"Maybe the gods were busy." Ron said with a shrug. A red faced Hermione turned to him.

"With what!? They're children! They should help!" Hermione yelled

"Maybe the gods were fighting something else." Harry said, looking out the windows at the storm - imagining a giant monster that couldn't be defeated. "Something impossible to defeat without someone special." The image of the monster being flattened by a wave while tiny figures - well, tiny compared to the monster - were flying overhead.


	2. Chapter 2

∆∆∆  
“All Demi-god’s; ages eleven and over! All aboard the Agro III! Come on! Come on!”  
Halloween was only a mere three days away, which was how long it would take them to get to London by ship. The head of the ship was a different dragon from Festus. Leo and the rest of the Hephaestus kids are building Festus a friend. Ember, which comes from fire.  
Shocking, isn’t it?  
It was a girl dragon. Leo was obviously making Festus a girlfriend. Though Percy still wonders how they have kids…  
When Percy asked Annabeth that question, she hit him upside the head and muttered, “Seaweed Brain.” Percy took that as a no…  
The dragon was Imperial Gold instead of Celestial Bronze. It was in the middle of building when Chiron announced this rest of the year quest which required all Demi-god from ages eleven and older. So several Demi-god’s had to quit school and attend one where they have to spout out random words and wave magic sticks like lunatics.  
Hecate blessed all Demi-god’s with magic and they were to attend that school named after pig skin – What the Hades – no – What the Hell!? – was Thalia’s first thought when she heard the name. It. Was. Stupid.  
While the other Demi-god’s laughed except for Annabeth, Thalia and Clarisse; Chiron was irritated to the max about how much they laughed.  
And do not get Annabeth started about when they heard about Death Eaters (“Who would eat Thanatos!?” Nico had yelled through gasps of laughter) and Voldemort (“My dad is angry at that guy.” Nico said after finishing his laughing escapade.)  
Demi-gods walked into the Argo III carrying their belongings and weapons, excited chatter filling the air. The younger campers were looking up at the ship in awe, the Hephaestus ones looking a little smug as well since either they helped or because their siblings made the ship happen.  
Percy was leaning against the porch post of the Big House, watching as Demi-god’s piled into the ship. Annabeth was beside him, reading a book completely translated in Greek about the wizards that Hecate gave them. Percy didn’t even bother trying to read with her. He knew he’d get bored after the first three paragraphs. He would ask Annabeth what it was about, but…  
Percy was no Athena kid. He’s even sure Athena cursed him with being clueless and oblivious. But he was smart enough to know that you should never ask Annabeth a question about something she’s reading. She’ll never shut up.  
“So, Wise Girl. Should we go aboard the ship or wait until everybody is inside?” Percy asked, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. Annabeth tore her eyes away from the book and looked at Percy.  
“I think it’s better if we stayed here and waited for Clarisse to cool down. I don’t feel safe getting on there with her, Leo and your nephew.” Annabeth said. Percy looked over to see the eighteen year old brunette get on the ship with Maimer III (long story) by her side, her brown haired boyfriend beside her with a Celestial Bronze dagger. They were both carrying duffle bags – probably with more pointy things.  
It was a very huge possibility.  
Very huge.  
“I see logic in your answer.” Percy said with a nod and Annabeth rolled her eyes.  
“There is always logic in my answers.” She said and Percy just smiled and kissed her cheek. Annabeth smiled fondly and was about to lean in and-  
BOOM!  
The couple turned and their eyes widened in horror when they saw a very angry Clarisse glaring down at a very ashy Leo – who was in a crater on the ground - from the ship.  
Leo lifted his head and let out a cough.  
“She shot me from the canon. How she shoved me in – I don’t know.” Leo rasped out before his head fell back and he groaned. Annabeth’s eyes had a tinge of worry; worrying about the boy she thought dead for five months until he appeared on a giant dragon with a pretty girl that smelled like cinnamon.  
Not that Annabeth smelled her.  
Not at all.  
Percy on the other hand, was laughing his fish ass off.  
Calypso rushed from the ship towards Leo and cradled him in her arms.  
“Are you alright!?” She shrieked in worry.   
Percy had a distant, “I’m good.”, come from the hurt boy – which just made him laugh harder for some stupid reason.  
Clarisse wore a smug smirk on her face, the sound of Chris's laughter heard from the ship.  
Teens and children alike turned to look at the scene and some people where just smiling fondly while others were staring in horror and most were laughing just like Percy.  
“Stop laughing, Seaweed Brain! The boy is severely hurt! I think…” Annabeth trailed off. Percy then calmed down after letting out a few huffs of laughter.  
“Live a little! Look on the stupid side of things for once! C’mon! Clarisse seems to have cooled down. Let’s get on the ship.” Percy said, grabbing her hand and leading her towards the ship.  
Annabeth fixed her grip on her book first before following Percy.  
They walked into the ship, heading straight for their room.  
Since Chiron was coming with them, the gender rule came to…well… rule.  
But since Annabeth and Percy fell into Tartarus, they needed each other just to get rid of the temporary PTSD. Dionysus looked into their minds and as the god of insanity, he healed their sanity, but it would take a while for the PTSD to wear off. Maybe a couple of weeks from now. By next year maybe.   
They walked into one of the farthest and the biggest rooms in the Agro III. The room wasn’t anything fancy. Just a queen sized four poster bed with silk grey sheets and green pillows. There were two grey walls and two green walls, shells decorating the grey walls and owls decorating the green walls. It had a grey carpet and there was a door leading to what might be the bathroom.  
“We have a lot of sleep to catch up on that we missed from last night.” Percy said. Annabeth looked at him.  
“And it was entirely your fault.” She said. Percy just laughed and kissed her deeply on the lips.  
∆∆∆  
Early next morning, Harry woke with a plan fully formed in his mind, as though his sleeping brain had worked on it all night. He got up, dressed in the pale dawn light, left the dormitory without waking Ron, and went back down to the deserted common room. Here he took a piece of parchment from the table upon which his Divination homework still lay and wrote the following letter:  
Dear Sirius,  
I reckon I just imagined my scar hurting, I was half asleep when I wrote you last time. There’s no point coming back, everything’s fine here. Don’t worry about me, my head feels completely normal.  
Harry  
He then climbed out of the portrait hole, up through the silent castle ( held up briefly by Peeves, who tried to overturn a large vase on him halfway along the fourth-floor corridor), finally arriving at the Owlery, which was situated at the top of West Tower.  
The Owlery was a circular stone room, rather cold and drafty, because none of the windows had glass in them. The floor was entirely covered in straw, owl droppings, and the regurgitated skeletons of mice and voles. Hundreds upon hundreds of owls of every breed imaginable were nested here on perches that rose right up to the top of the tower, nearly all of them asleep, though here and there a round amber eye glared at Harry. He spotted Hedwig nestled between a barn owl and a tawny, and hurried over to her, sliding a little on the dropping strewn floor.  
It took a while to persuade her to wake up and then look at him, as she kept shuffling around on her perch, showing him her tail. She was evidently still furious about his lack of gratitude the previous night. In the end, it was Harry suggesting she might be too tired, and that he would perhaps ask Ron to borrow Pigwidgeon, that made her stick out her leg and allow him to tie the letter to it.  
“Just find him, all right?” harry said, stroking her back as he carried her on his arm to one of the holes in the wall. “Before the dementors do.”  
She nipped at his finger, perhaps rather harder than she would have done, but hooted softly in a reassuring sort of way all the same. Then she spread her wings and took off into the sunrise, where Harry caught a reflection of gold glinting in the sky.  
Harry narrowed his eyes at the…thing, but then ignoring it after realizing that it could blind him – after three tries – and watched Hedwig fly out of sight with the familiar feeling of unease back in his stomach. He had been so sure that Sirius’s reply would allivate his worried rather than increasing them.  
“That was a lie, Harry,” Hermione said sharply over breakfast, when he told her and Ron what he had done. “You didn’t imagine your scar hurting and you know it..”  
“So what?” said Harry. “He’s not going to Azkaban because of me.”  
“Drop it,” said Ron sharply to Hermione as she opened her mouth to argue some more, and for once, Hermione heeded him, and fell silent.  
Harry did his best not to worry about Sirius over the next couple of weeks. True, he could not stop himself from looking anxiously around every morning when the post owls arrived, nor, late at night before he went to sleep, prevent himself from seeing horrible visions of Sirius, cornered by dementors down some dark London street, but between times, he tried to keep in mind of his godfather. He wish he still had Quidditch to distract him; nothing worked so well on a troubled mind as a good, hard training session. On the other hand, their lessons were becoming more difficult and demanding than ever before, particularly Moody’s Defense Against the Dark Arts.  
∆∆∆  
“Hello? Future Mr. and Mrs. Jackson? Open up.” Lou Ellen said, knocking on the door of Annabeth and Percy’s door, coming to tell them they had to meet at the bottom floor of the ship with the other Demi-god’s because Chiron had an announcement to make with Lady Hecate.  
Her emerald eyes turned a little darker in irritation, turning. She was twirling a finger in her choppy raven locks, waiting impatiently for the door to open.  
Lou Ellen let out a huff before knocking on the door yet again.  
“Open up!” she yelled, a few people in the halls scrambling away from her loud and Clarisse-like voice.  
Percy opened the door, his hair looking even messier and his eyes having more sparkle than usual. He just had that certain glow…  
“Were you two having sex?” Lou Ellen asked, her eyes wide in horror.  
“What… Psh… No…” Percy awkwardly said and Lou Ellen raised an unimpressed brow before pointing at a relatively large bruise on his neck.  
“Oh. So you fell on your neck again and for some stupid reason gained an after-sex glow?” Lou asked flatly. Annabeth appeared at the door again, her hair a mess and her cheeks flushed. Kiana just eyed them up and down and rolled her eyes. “We need to be at the bottom of the ship in five. Lady Hecate and Chiron are giving an announcement and a couple of other things. Let’s go.”  
“Five minutes?” Annabeth asked  
“Five seconds.” Lou said with a smirk before grabbing the hands of the protesting couple and yelling out a random word, the last sound coming from the now empty hall was screaming.  
Lou walked out of a shadow and landed right in front of a sea of Demi-god’s from eleven and up. In front was Leo, Nico and Calypso, giving the couple behind Lou a knowing look.  
“May we begin now?” Lou Ellen said and looked and Chiron next to her. Chiron cleared his throat and looked over at the crowd of Greeks.   
“Campers, we shall be arriving at Hogwarts,” –insert random giggles here- “, shortly, so Lady Hecate has prepared you all for the next one to seven years. When you return to your rooms, the needed equipment will be on your beds. There will be two other schools there other than Hogwarts. Beauxbatons and Durmstrang-,” Leo snorted, interrupting Chiron  
“Who names these schools? Were they drunk or something?” he muttered. Chiron gave Leo a stern but amused look.  
“As I was saying, they are competing in the Triwizard Tournament, which was cancelled after having a high death toll. It has returned though. And we are competing in it.” Chiron said, and every Demi-god was silent.  
“Make Nico do it! His dad is Hades!” Leo exclaimed and Nico glared at him.  
“Better it be Percy! He’s harder to kill!” Nico said and Percy at that moment looked like a deer in headlights.  
“Leo is better! He’ll just come back and can make those complicated contraptions to win!” Percy said and Leo gave him a long, cold stare.  
“You don’t choose for yourself. You are chosen. And you have to be seventeen or older to compete.” Chiron said and Nico gave a silent cheer while Percy looked horrified and Leo looked smug. “More information shall be explained at the school. The Romans are right behind us and they will arrive at the same time as us. I will send someone to tell all of you to prepare for your time at Hogwarts. Which will be the loudest people on this ship. Clarisse la Rue, Leo Valdez and Travis and Connor Stoll. The Hunters of Artemis and the Amazons are arriving in their own ship as well. Right behind the Romans.  
“We are to protect the wizards and witches attending the school. So please; no stealing, pranking, fighting, carrying weapons that are too big, correcting teachers, judging people’s sense of style, no turning students into frogs and blowing stuff up – Hermes, Ares, Athena, Hecate and Aphrodite.” Chiron finished with a stern look. Leo smiled in victory at the fact that they didn’t mention him. “And Leo Valdez.” He deflated.  
∆∆∆  
There was a pleasant feeling of anticipation in the air that day. Nobody was very attentive in lessons, being much more interested in the arrival that evening of the people from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang; even Potions was more bearable than usual, as it was half an hour shorter.   
When the bell rang early, Harry, Ron and Hermione hurried up to Gryffindor tower, deposited their bags and books as they had been instructed, pulled on their cloaks, and rushed back to the entrance hall.  
The Heads of Houses were ordering their students into lines. “Weasley, straighten your hat,” Professor McGonagall snapped at Ron. “Miss Patil, take the ridiculous thing out of your hair.”  
Parvati scowled and removed a large ornamental butterfly from of her plait.  
“Follow me please,” said Professor McGonagall. “First years in front… No pushing…”  
They filed down the steps and lined up in front of the castle. It was a cold, clear evening; dusk was falling and a pale, but very bright moon was already shining over the Forbidden Forest. Harry, standing between Ron and Hermione in the fourth row from the front, saw Dennis Creevey shivering with anticipation among the other first years.  
“Nearly six,” said Ron, checking his watch. Ron looked back to the drive that led to the front gates. “How d’you reckon they’re coming? The train?”  
“I doubt it,” said Hermione  
“How then? Broomsticks?” Harry suggested, looking up at the starry sky.  
“I don’t think so… not from that far away… Especially the Demi-god’s…”  
“A Portkey?” Ron suggested. “Or they could Apparate – maybe you’re allowed to do it under seventeen wherever they come from?’  
“You can’t Apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds, how often do I have to tell you?” Hermione said impatiently.  
They scanned the darkening grounds excitedly, but nothing was moving; everything was still, silent and quite as usual. Harry was starting to feel cold. He wished they’d hurry up… Maybe the Demi-god’s and the foreign students were preparing a dramatic entrance… He remembered Mr. Weasley had said back at the campsite before the Quidditch World Cup: “always the same – we can’t resist showing off when we get together…”  
And then Dumbledore called out from the back row where he stood with the Demi-god’s and the other teachers –  
“Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegation from Beauxbatons approaches!”  
“Where?” said many students eagerly, all looking in different directions.  
“There!” yelled a sixth year, pointing over the forest.  
Something large, much larger than a broomstick – or, indeed, a hundred broomsticks – was hurtling across the deep blue sky toward the castle, growing larger all the time.  
“It’s a dragon!” shrieked one of the first years, losing her head completely.  
“Don’t be stupid… It’s a flying house!” said Dennis Creevey. Dennis’s guess was closer… As the gigantic blue shape skimmed over the treetops of the Forbidden Forest and the lights shining from the castle windows hit it, they saw a gigantic, powder blue, horse drawn carriage the size of a large house, soaring toward them, pulled through the air by a dozen winged horses, all palominos, and each the size of an elephant.  
The front three rows of students drew backward as the carriage hurtled even lower, coming in to land at a tremendous speed – then, with an almighty crash that made Neville jump backward onto a Slytherin fifth years’ foot, the horses’ hooves, larger than any dinner plates, hit the ground. A second later, the carriage landed too, bouncing upon its vast wheels while the golden horses tossed their enormous heads and rolled large, fiery red eyes.  
Harry just had time to see that the door of the carriage bore a coat of arms ( two crossed, golden wands, each emitting three stars) before it opened.  
A boy in pale blue robes jumped down from the carriage, bent forward, fumbled for a moment with something on the carriage floor, and unfolded a set of golden steps. He sprang back respectfully. Then Harry saw a shining, high-heeled black shoe emerging from the inside of the carriage – a shoe the size of a child’s sled – followed, almost immediately by the largest woman he had ever seen in his life. The size of the horses and the carriage was immediately explained. A few people gasped.  
Harry had only seen one person as large as this woman in his life, and that was Hagrid; he doubted whether there was an inch difference in heights. Yet somehow – maybe simply because he was used to Hagrid – this woman (now at the front of the steps, and looking around at the waiting, wide-eyed crowd) seemed even more unnaturally large. As she stepped into the light flooding from the entrance hall, she was revealed to have a handsome, olive skinned face; large, black, liquid-looking eyes; and a rather beaky nose. Her hair was drawn back in a shining knob at the base of her neck. She was dressed from head to foot in black satin, and many magnificent opals gleamed at her throat and on her thick fingers.  
　　Dumbledore started to clap; the students, following his lead, broke into applause too, many of them standing on tiptoe, the better to look at this woman.  
　　Her face relaxed into a gracious smile and she walked forward toward Dumbledore, extending a glittering hand. Dumbledore, though tall himself, had barely to bend to kiss it.  
　　"My dear Madame Maxime," he said. "Welcome to Hogwarts."   
　　"Dumbly-dorr." said Madame Maxime in a deep voice. "I 'ope I find you well?"  
　　"In excellent form, I thank you," said Dumbledore.  
　　"My pupils," said Madame Maxime, waving one of her enormous hands carelessly behind her.  
　　Harry, whose attention had been focused completely upon Madame Maxime, now noticed that about a dozen boys and girls, all, by the look of them, in their late teens, had emerged from the carriage and were now standing behind Madame Maxime. They were shivering, which was unsurprising, given that their robes seemed to be made of fine silk, and none of them were wearing cloaks. A few had wrapped scarves and shawls around their heads. From what  
　　Harry could see of them (they were standing in Madame Maxime's enormous shadow), they were staring up at Hogwarts with apprehensive looks on their faces.  
　　"As Karkaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked.  
　　"He should be here any moment," said Dumbledore. "Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you prefer to step inside and warm up a trifle?"  
　　"Warm up, I think," said Madame Maxime. "But ze 'orses -"  
　　"Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them," said Dumbledore, "the moment he has returned from dealing with a slight situation that has arisen with some of his other - er - charges."  
　　"Skrewts," Ron muttered to Harry, grinning.  
　　"My steeds require - er - forceful 'andling," said Madame Maxime, looking as though she doubted whether any Care of Magical Creatures teacher at Hogwarts could be up to the job.  
　　"Zey are very strong. . . ."  
　　"I assure you that Hagrid will be well up to the job," said Dumbledore, smiling.  
　　"Very well," said Madame Maxime, bowing slightly. "Will you please inform zis 'Agrid zat ze 'orses drink only single-malt whiskey?"  
　　"It will be attended to," said Dumbledore, also bowing.  
　　"Come," said Madame Maxime imperiously to her students, and the Hogwarts crowd parted to allow her and her students to pass up the stone steps.  
　　"How big d'you reckon Durmstrang's horses are going to be?" Seamus Finnigan said, leaning around Lavender and Parvati to address Harry and Ron.  
　　"Well, if they're any bigger than this lot, even Hagrid won't be able to handle them,"  
　　said Harry. "That's if he hasn't been attacked by his skrewts. Wonder what's up with them?"  
　　"Maybe they've escaped," said Ron hopefully.  
　　"Oh don't say that," said Hermione with a shudder. "Imagine that lot loose on the grounds. . . ."  
　　They stood, shivering slightly now, waiting for the Durmstrang party to arrive. Most people were gazing hopefully up at the sky.  
　　For a few minutes, the silence was broken only by Madame Maxime's huge horses snorting and stamping. But then - "Can you hear something?" said Ron suddenly.  
　　Harry listened; a loud and oddly eerie noise was drifting toward them from out of the darkness: a muffled rumbling and sucking sound, as though an immense vacuum cleaner were moving along a riverbed.  
　　"The lake!" yelled Lee Jordan, pointing down at it. "Look at the lake!"  
　　From their position at the top of the lawns overlooking the grounds, they had a clear view of the smooth black surface of the water - except that the surface was suddenly not smooth at all. Some disturbance was taking place deep in the center; great bubbles were forming on the surface, waves were now washing over the muddy banks - and then, out in the very middle of the lake, a whirlpool appeared, as if a giant plug had just been pulled out of the lake's floor. .  
　　What seemed to be a long, black pole began to rise slowly out of the heart of the whirlpool. . . and then Harry saw the rigging....  
　　"It's a mast!" he said to Ron and Hermione.  
　　Slowly, magnificently, the ship rose out of the water, gleaming in the moonlight. It had a strangely skeletal look about it, as though it were a resurrected wreck, and the dim, misty lights shimmering at its portholes looked like ghostly eyes. Finally, with a great sloshing noise, the ship emerged entirely, bobbing on the turbulent water, and began to glide toward the bank. A few moments later, they heard the splash of an anchor being thrown down in the shallows, and the thud of a plank being lowered onto the bank.  
　　People were disembarking; they could see their silhouettes passing the lights in the ship's portholes. All of them, Harry noticed, seemed to be built along the lines of Crabbe and Goyle... but then, as they drew nearer, walking up the lawns into the light streaming from the entrance hall, he saw that their bulk was really due to the fact that they were wearing cloaks of some kind of shaggy, matted fur. But the man who was leading them up to the castle was wearing furs of a different sort: sleek and silver, like his hair.  
　　"Dumbledore!" he called heartily as he walked up the slope. "How are you, my dear fellow, how are you?"  
　　"Blooming, thank you, Professor Karkaroff," Dumbledore replied. Karkaroff had a fruity, unctuous voice; when he stepped into the light pouring from the front doors of the castle  
　　they saw that he was tall and thin like Dumbledore, but his white hair was short, and his goatee (finishing in a small curl) did not entirely hide his rather weak chin. When he reached Dumbledore, he shook hands with both of his own.  
　　"Dear old Hogwarts," he said, looking up at the castle and smiling; his teeth were rather yellow, and Harry noticed that his smile did not extend to his eyes, which remained cold and shrewd. "How good it is to be here, how good.. . . Viktor, come along, into the warmth. . . you don't mind, Dumbledore? Viktor has a slight head cold..."  
　　Karkaroff beckoned forward one of his students. As the boy passed, Harry caught a glimpse of a prominent curved nose and thick black eyebrows. He didn't need the punch on the arm Ron gave him, or the hiss in his ear, to recognize that profile.  
　　"Harry - it's Krum!"  
I don't believe it!" Ron said, in a stunned voice, as the Hogwarts students filed back up the steps behind the party from Durmstrang. "Krum, Harry! Viktor Krum!"  
　　"For heaven's sake, Ron, he's only a Quidditch player," said Hermione.  
　　"Only a Quidditch player?" Ron said, looking at her as though he couldn't believe his ears. "Hermione - he's one of the best Seekers in the world! I had no idea he was still at school!"  
“We still need to wait for the Demi…” Dumbledore’s voice faltered as he looked at the sky above the Forbidden Forest. Harry followed his gaze and his eyes widened. There were three giant, gleaming, flying warships with a lot of people either talking, singing or just sitting on the decks.   
The ship in the middle was bigger than the other two. It was gleaming gold and the dragon head had red gleaming eyes. What was even more shocking was that it roared and blew fire into the cold night sky. That was the ship with the singers. There was an orange manner on its side with Camp Half-Blood on it as well as a winged horse.  
The ship on its right was a little bit smaller, but grander. It had a purple banner on its side with Camp Jupiter and S.P.Q.R on it. It had no living metal dragon as its head. It had purple sails as well, unlike the first ship which had orange sails. They had the talkers.  
The third ship was golden like the first two as well, but with silver sails and a silver banner on its side with the moon and a peacock and Hunters of Artemis on the top and The Amazons on the bottom. It had no head as well. It was the silent ship.  
“The Demi-god’s have arrived.” Dumbledore said  
The students of all the others schools watched in fascination as the ships landed. There was no sound for a moment – just the clicking and whirring from the dragon head.  
Harry frowned and looked at Hermione, who looked outraged. Huh.   
∆∆∆  
“Alright Demi-god’s! It’s time to make ourselves known to the descendants and children of Hecate who use sticks and yell random words that make no sense!” Clarisse yelled. All Demi-god’s on the Argo III rushed around, gathering their weapons and duffle bags where they carried their clothes and now – magically inserted books. They held their new wands in their hands.   
They were itching with anticipation. Especially Leo and Percy, who were probably the most ADHD kids on this ship and in the Greek world.  
“Gather up around! Hold your shit close to you! Make sure your locks are tightly closed! We don’t know where the Stoll’s are and I don’t think anyone wants to be a victim of a prank or theft!” Clarisse yelled. All Demi-god’s gathered in a circle around Clarisse, who just proved to be one of the scariest girls at camp, looking around to see where the twin devils were. Annabeth and Percy walked to the centre of the circle.   
“We need to be at our best behavior. I’m not asking for much. Just… Don’t blow up the school.” Annabeth said and every Demi-god nodded.  
“Demi-god’s! out!” Clarisse yelled and opened the doo


	3. Chapter 3

When the doors of the biggest ship opened, all kinds of children from ages eleven and up piled out of the ship. They carried bags that might have had their equipment in it and they all wore t-shirts with the words 'Camp Half-Blood' on them with a Pegasus.

Harry felt insulted of course. When he had heard of the camp name, he tried to keep his cool by not losing himself. Now, he was fuming. These people dare be prejudiced like all those Slytherin's. How could they do that? Who knew Demi-god's did such?

…

Well no one actually. Harry didn't even think anyone knew Demi-god's existed except for the Demi-god's themselves.

All the Demi-god's piled out and stood in rows in front of their ship. There were about 100 people there. There were a lot of rows as well, going from shortest to tallest. Or youngest to oldest. But there was one older person standing in front with a banner in hand, looking like the leaders of that row.

The one that freaked Harry out the most was the banner with the wild boar as well as the scary – but pretty – looking girl holding the flag. It was the fifth row. And Harry couldn't look at the banner that belonged to the seventh row. It was so gold and shiny and flashy and… flashy… It was also warm! But Harry liked the twentieth banner. It shimmered and glowed, showing different battles using magic. The banner itself was green, but it seemed to shimmer all colours.

Or maybe it was the rainbow banner beside it.

The ship with the purple banner had people piling out right after as well. They all either wore armor or purple capes. They looked even sterner than the ones in the orange t-shirts. They stood with the ones in orange, standing behind a certain banner. Harry noticed that the people who stood behind a certain banner had a similar feature. Like the eleventh banner. They had the mischievous looking ones who'd belong in either Slytherin or Hufflepuff.

Mostly Slytherin.

They looked like trouble. Especially the two brothers standing side by side in front, holding the banner. Well, Harry assumed they were brothers. They looked exactly the same except one was taller than the other. They had that look in their eye that made Harry look over to the Weasley twins, who were smiling mischievously. Harry looked back at the Demi-god's.

The people from the last ship walked out with a silver banner with the moon on it. It was glowing even more than the gold one under the moonlight, making the gold one dim down a little letting the sun appear on the banner. And it seemed to be the banner's version of a pout.

And the people were all girls with a dim silver glow around them. Well except for the nine year old red-headed girl who seemed to glow more than the others. Also the other group of girls wearing black attire. There was one girl leading them who was wearing a leather suit with a golden chain belt around her wait. They all carried bows and arrows and wore silver and black attire. The red-headed girl was accompanied by two giant silver wolves the sizes of bears. Or elephants. As the red-haired girl passed, every Demi-god bowed down and said,

"Lady Artemis."

The girls behind this 'Lady Artemis' squeezed in between row number seven and number eight, making it number eight now.

A centaur walked to the front and bowed down to the girl.

"Lady Artemis." He said and stood from the bow, the Demi-god's following his example. The girl gave a small smile.

"Chiron. Zeus had asked me to come accompany you through this…project and I shall be here throughout the entire year. Afterwards, I will have to leave with my hunters." She said and the centaur nodded.

"I see. Well, it would be an honor having you here, My Lady." He said and turned to the crowd of wizards, who were silent the entire time. He smiled and walked forward. "Dumbledore, old friend. How nice it is to see you."

"Oh Chiron, what an even greater honor to see you. How have you been all these years?" Dumbledore asked, shaking Chiron's hand.

"I've been doing my job. Training heroes to be the people they should be. And helping everyone recover from the last two wars. It has been hard for these children." Chiron said and let go of Dumbledore's hand. Dumbledore's gaze moved over to the red-headed girl and he bowed his head.

"You must be Lady Artemis. It is an honor to meet you, My Lady." He said and Lady Artemis smiled.

"The honor is mine. Now shall we go inside? Hunters would like to be warm inside. The cold would be no problem if we had a fire." She said and Chiron looked back at the Demi-god's, just to see the ones in orange fiddling with weapons in hand while others had small conversations. Though most were having fights already. Mostly begun by the ones with the boar on their banner.

"Yes. We should get inside before my campers start a fire and burn everything down or several get severely injured." And as he said this, Chiron seemed amused.

Hermione looked horrified.

"Severely injured!? They let children to handle weapons!? This is an outrage!" she whisper/yelled.

"Maybe there is a good explanation." Ron said, though he didn't seem to convince himself that there is a good explanation.

"Very well." Dumbledore said before turning and walking towards the school entrance

ΔΔΔ

After getting over the arrival of the Demi-god's, students filed back up the steps behind the party from Durmstrang.

As they recrossed the entrance hall with the rest of the Hogwarts students heading for the Great Hall, Harry saw Lee Jordan jumping up and down on the soles of his feet to get a better look at the back of Krum's head. Several sixth-year girls were frantically searching their pockets as they walked –

"Oh I don't believe it. I haven't got a single quill on me-,"

"D'you think he'd sign my hat in lipstick?"

Harry frowned when he heard snickering behind him. He turned around and saw the two identical Demi-god's a few rows back holding five quills in hand, some Galleons, lipstick and three wands in hand.

"This is too easy." One said

"I know right!?" the other said

"Really," Hermione said loftily as they passed the girls who were now frantically searching for the lipstick.

"I'm getting his autograph if I can," said Ron. "You haven't got a quill, have you, Harry?"

"Nope. But they seem to have eleven of them." Harry said and pointed at the two thieves. Ron was about to walk over when a girl with green eyes and brown hair walked up to them, her hands crossed sternly over her chest.

"Where did you two troublemakers get those?" she asked

"We borrowed them." The taller one said with a smug look, while at the same time the shorter one said, "We stole them," with a love struck look. The tall one gave him an incredulous look.

"Dude! I get that you're in love with her, but why!? We're supposed to be the famous Stoll brothers! Not the working one and the 'in love' one!" he said

"I'm not in love with her!" the short one said.

"You boys better return all those things or I'm returning you back to camp. The hard way." The girl said with a glare and the boys sighed.

"Yes, Katie." They grumbled and began walking away. The girl smiled in satisfaction and followed them.

"Well, you lost your chance." Hermione said. They walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat down. Ron took care to sit on the side facing the doorway, because Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students were still gathered around it, apparently unsure about where they should sit. The students from Beauxbatons had chosen seats at the Ravenclaw table. They were looking around the Great Hall with glum expressions on their faces. Three of them were still clutching scarves and shawls around their heads.

"It's not that cold." Said Hermione defensively. "Why didn't they bring cloaks?"

"Over here! Come and sit over here!" Ron hissed. "Over here! Hermione, budge up, make space-,"

"What?"

"Too late." Ron said bitterly

Viktor Krum and his fellow Durmstrang students had settled themselves at the Slytherin table. Harry could see Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle looking very smug about this.

The Demi-god's all stood at the entrance, probably waiting for something to happen. They were talking amongst themselves. The three legged stool was in front yet again. Professor McGonagall stood next to the stool with the hat in hand before putting it on the stool. As he watched, Malfoy bent forward to speak to Krum.

"Yeah, that's right, swarm up to him, Malfoy," said Ron scathingly. "I bet Krum can see right through him, though…bet he gets people fawning over him all the time… Where'd you reckon they're going to sleep? We could offer him space in our dormitory, Harry… I wouldn't mind giving him my bed. I could kip on a camp bed."

Hermione snorted

"They look a lot happier than the Beauxbatons lot," said Harry. The Durmstrang students were pulling off their heavy furs and looking up at the starry black ceiling with expressions of interest; a couple of them were picking up the golden plates and goblets and examining them, impressed.

Up at the staff table, Filch, the caretaker, was adding chairs. He was wearing his moldy old tailcoat in honor of the occasion. Harry was surprised to see him add ten chairs. Five on either side of Dumbledore.

"But there are only three or four extra people." Harry said. "Why is Filch putting out ten chairs? Who else is coming?"

"Eh?" Ron said vaguely. He was still staring at Krum. When all the students had entered the hall and settled down at their House tables, the staff entered, filling up to the top table and taking their seats. Last to enter was Professor Dumbledore, Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Chiron and Lady Artemis. The only difference with Chiron was that he was in a wheelchair. How? Nobody knows. When their headmistress appeared, the pupils from Beauxbatons leapt to their feet. A few of the Hogwarts students laughed. The Beauxbatons party appeared quite unembarrassed, however, and did not resume sitting down until Madame Maxime sat down on Dumbledore's left side, and Lady Artemis sat next to her. Dumbledore remained standing and a silence fell over the Great Hall.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and – most particularly – guests." Dumbledore said beaming around the foreign students. Harry noticed some ghosts looking nervously at the Demi-god's. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable."

One of the Beauxbatons girls still clutching a muffler around her head gave what was unmistakably a derisive laugh.

"No one's making you stay!" Hermione whispered, bristling at her.

"And now for some important announcements." Dumbledore said. "The Quidditch pitch is off limits as the Demi-god's are going to be training there, unless invited or if you volunteer to be a training dummy." Harry swore he saw smirking from the scary looking kids at the group of Demi-god's. "The Demi-god's will be participating in the Triwizard Tournament. The rules apply to them as well. Right now, they shall be sorted into their Houses and they shall be treated as normal Hogwarts students. I was also told to tell you that do not fear if there is a random roar or hiss from somewhere. The Demi-god's will handle it. I'm not sure what it means, but I hopefully won't find out." Hermione scowled. "Now, they shall be sorted." Dumbledore sat down.

"Chase, Annabeth!" a pretty blonde girl with an athletic body and grey eyes walked up front with her head held high and an aura of pride around her. She seemed relaxed and tense at the same time. She seemed slightly harmless. Well, she would seem harmless if she didn't have the bone knife strapped to her thigh. Harry couldn't help himself but noticing that all these people looked godly. Annabeth sat on the chair and Professor McGonagall put the hat on top of her head.

"Gryffindor!" the hat yelled out and the Gryffindor table cheered. Annabeth smiled and made her way to the table, sitting right next to Ron who stared at her in awe.

"Di Angelo, Nico!" a boy with shaggy black hair and sickly pale skin walked to the front. He let out an aura of death. His eyes were dark from behind his hair. The ghosts seemed to tremble as he passed them. Even Bloody Baron, who stood up and bowed. He gave a small smile and a nod, making all the other ghosts bow as well. He had his hands in his pockets, a black sword hanging from his waist. He sat down on the chair and let out a sigh as the hat was put on his head.

The hall was silent and everyone waited. One minute. Two minutes. Three minutes. Five minutes. Seven minutes. Then the hat finally yelled out, "Slytherin!" in a slightly quivering voice. The Slytherin table clapped and cheered and Nico went over there, sitting right next to Draco who greeted him. Nico raised a brow and shook his hand. Harry watched curiously as Draco immediately pulled away after touching his hand and Harry saw Malfoy's lips say, "…so cold…"

"Gardner, Katie!" the girl Harry saw earlier scolding those boys walked forward, a calming smile on her face. As she passed, Harry caught a whiff of her scent. Strawberries and flowers. Nice.

She sat on the chair. The hat was put on her head and she frowned slightly. Probably hearing the hat talking to her.

"Hufflepuff!" the hat yelled. The Hufflepuff table of course welcomed Katie in open arms.

"Garret, Malcolm." A boy with grey eyes matching Annabeth's as well as the athletic body and blonde hair walked up to the front. He had the same posture and look Annabeth had. Except he had a book by his side written in a language Harry didn't recognize. Malcolm sat on the chair and the hat was put on his head.

"Ravenclaw!" echoed around the hall and Ravenclaw clapped as Malcolm went over to sit with them.

This kept going on and on. Most of the children with the angry and scary faces went to Gryffindor or Slytherin while the ones who looked like those thieves went into Slytherin or Hufflepuff. Mostly Slytherin. But here was an interesting one.

"Grace, Jason!" a boy walked up to the front. He was built and big with sky blue eyes, glasses and a scar on his lip. He had that certain leadership aura around him. He was fingering a coin in hand that was about the size of a cookie. It was big. He sat down on the chair and sighed. The hat was soon on his head and everyone waited.

It was ten minutes and Ron was already moaning and groaning.

"Oh come on! Won't they just hurry up already?" he asked and Hermione shot him a look.

"Oh, just be patient. They might be a bit complicated. Like the di Angelo boy." Hermione said.

"Gryffindor!" The hat finally yelled and the Gryffindor table clapped. The guy sat next to Annabeth and they both shared a hug. Harry thought they were probably dating or something.

"Grace, Thalia!" an angry looking girl walked up front. She had pale skin and electric blue eyes and well as black hair that had electricity crackling around it. She was wearing silver and black attire and had a silver tiara on her head. She had a silver glow around her. Dimmer that Lady Artemis' but brighter than the others. She was muttering something under her breath and when she reached McGonagall she said,

"I don't like my surname. Please don't call me by it." And then she sat down. The hat was put on her head. And guess what? Even more waiting. And this one was longer.

"Gryffindor!" Thalia made her way next to Jason and they fist bumped.

Things kept going. No more long Sortings. Well, that's what Ron was hoping until this odd guy stepped up.

"Jackson, Perseus!" Annabeth giggled at the name. A boy who had a small blush on his face walked forward. He was big and built like Jason, but not as much. He seemed leaner and taller. His skin was tanned as if he spent too much time at the ocean, his black hair was a mess on his head and his sea green eyes were unnerving. In a way, this guy looked like an older and better version of Harry. He seemed to be attracting too many girls because very soon, many girls were red from him just passing by.

He sat on the chair, fiddling with a cheap pen in his hands. Professor McGonagall put the hat on his head and the boy sat up straighter and narrowed his eyes.

This guy might be seriously difficult because Harry was sure he took twenty five minutes.

"It might be taking a while because his brain is full of kelp." Annabeth said in amusement and the Graces' laughed

"True." Thalia said

"Gryffindor!" the hat yelled and by this time, Percy was already bored out of his mind. He was sure he already wrote Annabeth's name in different sizes and fonts onto his arm with his pen in writing form. He stood up and made his way to the Gryffindor table. Jason made space between himself and Annabeth, allowing Percy to sit in-between.

"Hey Superman, Pinecone Face, Wise Girl." Percy said, nodding at Thalia and Jason. He turned to Annabeth and smiled, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Annabeth smiled lightly and Harry noticed most of the blushing girls sigh sadly and look envious.

When the sorting was finished, Ron was relieved. Most of the kids who had some of Annabeth's features went to Ravenclaw. Percy and Nico seemed to be the only ones who didn't have a feature that looked like anyone else's.

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast," Dumbledore said. "I now invite you all to eat, drink, and make yourselves at home!"

He sat down and Harry saw Karkaroff lean forward to engage in a conversation.

The plates in front of them filed with food as usual. The house elves in the kitchen seems to have pulled out all the stops; there was a greater variety of dishes in front of them that Harry had never seem, including several that were definitely foreign.

"What's that?" Ron asked, pointing at a large dish of some sort of shellfish stew that stood beside a large steak-and-kidney pudding. The Demi-god's seemed to have heard them because they intervened.

"That's Bouillabaisse." Annabeth said as if she expected Ron to know.

"Bless you." Ron said

"No. It's French." Hermione said after shooting Annabeth an impressed look. "I had it on holiday summer before last. It's very nice."

"I'll take your word for it." Ron said, helping himself to black pudding. Percy gave Annabeth a look before shrugging and helping himself as well. And more food. Seriously, his plate couldn't hold all of that food.

"You'll choke." Hermione said to Percy. Percy looked at her.

"I've never choked before. Just the perks of being a teenage boy." Percy said and winked, causing Hermione to flush red. Percy stared at his plate of food and looked over at the front of the table.

"Don't even bother. I've told him this over and over. He just doesn't listen to me." Annabeth said. "Why do you think he's gotten us killed most of the time?" Hermione gaped.

"Killed!?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Oh yeah. It's a normal thing really. Waking up, getting dressed, eating, and preparing to fight for your life." A boy named Leo said with a shrug. He was very… elf-like.

"Normal!?" Hermione screeched louder.

All of a sudden, a golden brazier appeared in front. Every Demi-god stood and walked over. They took a portion of their food and put it in, muttering something before returning to their seats. For some reason, when Nico muttered something, the room got a little colder before being warm again. Harry saw Severus give Nico a nod and a tiny smile. Nico smiled at waved at him like, Hi mommy! I'm on TV!

"Oh yeah." Jason said, before going over to the brazier. When the demi-god's came back, Ron was looking at them in horror. Then they began eating.

"What was that?" Ron asked

"We sacrifice a portion of our food to the gods. It's an ancient Greek tradition." Annabeth said. "In translation, we have to if we don't want to be struck down."

"Excuse me? Are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?"

It was the girl from Beauxbatons who had laughed at Dumbledore's speech. She had finally removed her muffler. A long sheet of silvery blonde hair fell almost to her waist. She had large, deep blue eyes and very white and even teeth.

Though she still didn't get near the Demi-god girls. Especially all the ones who like squealing and gossiping and wear a lot of make-up.

Ron went purple. He stared up at her, opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out except a faint gurgling noise.

"Yeah, you can have it." Percy said, pushing the dish towards the girl who was hungrily eyeing Percy. Annabeth rolled her eyes at how oblivious her boyfriend was.

"You 'ave finished wiz it?"

"Yeah." Ron said breathlessly. "Yeah, it was excellent."

The girl picked up the dish and carried it carefully off to the Ravenclaw table. Ron was still goggling at the girl as though he'd never seen one before. Harry started to laugh. The sound seemed to bring back Ron.

"She's a Veela." He said

"A what-a?" Leo asked with a confused look on his face

"A Veela." Hermione said and left it at that. No explanation. "And she isn't one. I don't see anyone else gaping at her like an idiot."

"Really?" Percy asked with an amused smile. "I don't see that."

Indeed, many boys' heads turned and some of them were temporarily speechless, just like Ron, when the girl passed by.

"I'm telling you! She's not a normal girl!" Ron said, leaning so he had a clear view of her. "They don't make them like that at Hogwarts."

"What did you expect from a school Demi-god's call Pigskin?" Leo muttered before shoving food in his mouth.

"They make them okay at Hogwarts." Harry said without thinking. Cho happened to be sitting only a few places away from the girl.

"When you've both put your eyes back in your heads, look at who's arrived." Hermione said with a roll of her eyes.

She was pointing up at the staff table. Two of the remaining seats have been filled up, leaving the other four empty. Ludo Bagman, now sitting beside Chiron while Mr. Crouch, Percy's – erm- Percy Weasley's boss, was beside Lady Artemis. Even though he didn't look nervous sitting next to the now nineteen year old girl, his eyes had panic in them.

"What are they doing here?" Harry asked in surprise

"They organized the Triwizard Tournament, didn't they?" Hermione said. "I supposed they wanted to be here to see it start."

Percy looked up. "They're here?" he shared a look with Jason. They both nodded before standing up.

"See you guys later." Jason said and he and Percy went up to the staff table, followed by a Demi-god girl from Ravenclaw known as Reyna and a huge Asian guy from Hufflepuff whose name was Frank. They sat in the remaining seats, surprising everyone other than the teachers and the Demi-god's.

Once the plates have been wiped clean, Dumbledore stood up. A pleasant sort of tension filled the Hall. Harry felt a slight thrill of excitement, wondering what was coming. Several seats down from them, Fred and George were leaning forward, staring at Dumbledore with great concentration. Well, Fred seemed to be staring at Reyna, but Harry wasn't so sure.

"The moment has come." Dumbledore said, smiling around at the sea of upturned faces. "The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket-,"

"A what?" Annabeth muttered and Thalia shrugged.

"- just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation," – there was a smattering of polite applause – ", and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports."

There was a much louder applause for Bagman than for Crouch. Perhaps because of his fame as a Beater, or simply because he looked more likable.

"Also, let me introduce Jason Grace, former Praetor of Camp Jupiter, a child of the Second Great Prophecy and Pontifex Maximus. Son of Jupiter and Hero of Olympus." There was a hesitant applause, since they didn't know what anything meant.

"Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, Praetor of Camp Jupiter, Daughter of Bellona and Hero of Olympus." This applause was a little louder since they understood half of what was said.

"Frank Zhang, Praetor of Camp Jupiter, a child of the Second Great Prophecy, Son of Mars and Hero of Olympus." Everyone just kept clapping. Now they were bored. Can't they just announce more information about the Triwizard Tournament already?

"And Perseus Jackson, former Praetor of Camp Jupiter, child of the First and Second Great Prophecy, Leader of Camp Half-Blood, Bearer of the Sky and the Mark of Achilles, Survivor of Tartarus. Son of Poseidon and twice Hero of Olympus." This applause was an applaud of shock on how one person can be all that.

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months to arrange the Triwizard Tournament," Dumbledore continued, "and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff, Madame Maxime, Chiron and Ms. Ramírez-Arellano on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts. The casket, then, if you will, Mr. Filch."

Filch, who had been lurking unnoticed in a far corner of the Hall, now approached Dumbledore carrying a great wooden chest encrusted with jewels.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman." Dumbledore said ad Filch placed the chest carefully on the table before him, "and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will tests the champions in many different ways… their magical prowess – their daring – their powers of deduction – and of course, their ability to cope with danger."

"Percy's got this one in the bag." Annabeth muttered. Harry frowned, wondering what she meant.

"As you know now, there will be four champions competing in the tournament. A small change from our usual three," Dumbledore said calmly, "one from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how they perform each of the Tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector; The Goblet of Fire."

Leo smirked, but Annabeth gave him a stern look, making him deflate.

Dumbledore took out his wand and tapped it upon the top of the casket three times. The lid creaked open slowly. Dumbledore reached in and took out a large, roughly hewn wooden cup. It would have been entirely unremarkable had it not been full to the brim with dancing blue-white flames. He closed the casket and put the Goblet on top for all to see.

"Anyone wishing to submit themselves as a champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet." Dumbledore said. "Aspiring champions have twenty-four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return names of the four it has judged worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.

"To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross the line." Dumbledore said. "This tournament is to not be taken lightly, once a champion is selected, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet.

"Finally, I should announce that the next morning, the Demi-god's would like to demonstrate their prowess by having a war game called, The Big Three vs. Everyone else. It will take place on the Quidditch pitch at approximately eight in the morning. You do not need to be there. But it was a mere suggestion for you to be there. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

"Do you think the age line allows physical or mental age?" Thalia asked

"Probably mental. So that means you and Nico can actually enter." Annabeth said.

"That would be awesome. Seeing myself zap everything with lighting. Or see Nico resurrect the dead and make them win for him." Thalia said. They stood up and walked towards the entrance, the wizards following behind.

"But seriously, Percy has this one in the bag. He's gone through things that would make matured people go insane." Annabeth said.

"What do you mean?" Fred asked.

"Well, during the year, we were in our second war. Against the Giants and Mother Earth. During a small little…quest, Percy and Annabeth fell into the realm of my uncle downstairs' basement." Thalia said. "Translation, they fell into Greek Hell and came back somewhat intact." Annabeth shuddered.

"I'm never going back there again." Annabeth muttered. Nico joined Annabeth, Draco clinging beside him.

"Annie," Nico began and Annabeth scowled, "this is Draco Malfoy. I think he might be a descendant of Athena. I mean, look at him." Annabeth eyed Malfoy, who was sneering and Harry, Ron and Hermione but said nothing.

"Hey, Neeks. I've just noticed that that guy with the greasy black hair looks like your father." Thalia said. Nico scowled.

"He is a descendant of Hades. That might be why. But please, no." Nico said. "So, who's ready to get their asses whooped tomorrow?"

"The others. Hopefully, Artemis won't let the Hunters fight. I really don't feel like being cream-pied by Percy." Thalia said.

"Too bad. You'll fight anyways." Annabeth said. "You always have to fight."


End file.
